Gypsum Johnny knocking on the door

Five of the nine races at Belmont Park on Thursday are scheduled for turf, and with rain expected sometime in the afternoon or evening, most people will be hoping the weather holds off.

Linda Rice is not among them.

Rice has Gypsum Johnny in race 8, a second-level optional claimer at seven furlongs. Gypsum Johnny has been knocking on the door at this condition level the past few months and has finished second in his last three starts.

“He moves way up in the mud,” Rice said. “He just loves it.”

Gypsum Johnny, a 5-year-old New York-bred son of City Zip, is 6 for 26 in his career but 3 for 8 on wet tracks.

Wet or dry, Gypsum Johnny looks well-spotted Thursday.

Trainer David Jacobson has been searching for the right spot for West Hills Giant, and he looks to be the top threat to Gypsum Johnny. Jacobson entered and scratched the 7-year-old New York-bred from the Affirmed Success Stakes last Friday and from a second-level optional-claiming turf sprint for statebreds Sunday.

Race 7 on the Thursday card is a first-level allowance at 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf for fillies and mares. Trainer Christophe Clement has two of the top contenders in Taralena and Al Hayyah.

Taralena will be making her first start since finishing second of 12 runners in the $188,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks, a 1 5/16-mile turf race at Kentucky Downs in September. Al Hayyah rallied from far back to finish third in a Tampa Bay allowance race while making her North American debut in early March.

“There is not much between them in the morning,” Clement said. “I am excited to see them run.”

The card also includes a third-level optional-claiming race at a mile on turf that is carded as race 3.

◗ The Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay, a 1 3/8-mile inner-turf marathon for fillies and mares, is likely to attract Sea Calisi, who won her North American debut in this race a year ago and went on to take the Grade 1 Beverly D. Sea Calisi, trained by Chad Brown, has not raced since the Breeders’ Cup.

Suffused, who has won three of her last four starts for trainer Bill Mott, also is expected, as are Achnaha, Apple Betty, and Voila Victoire.

◗ The possible starters for the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy, a 1 1/8-mile race on the inner turf for 4-year-olds and up, are Eirigh, Farz, Highland Sky, Jay Gatsby, Messi, Smooth Daddy, and Time Test.